The government published its response to a report (published in March 2009) that had said that one-quarter of all government databases were unlawful, and should be scrapped or redesigned. It described the methodology underpinning the report as 'opaque and inadequately substantiated'.
Source: Government Response to the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Report: 'Database State', Ministry of Justice
Date: 2009-Dec
The opposition Conservative Party published plans to reduce the role of surveillance and protect the public's privacy. Proposals included: scrapping the national identity register and ContactPoint databases; establishing clear principles for the use and retention of DNA on the national DNA database (including ending the permanent or prolonged retention of innocent people's DNA); and restricting and restraining local council access to personal communications data.
Source: Reversing the Rise of the Surveillance State, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release
Date: 2009-Sep
The police service inspectorate published an interim report that examined the policing of public protest during the G20 summit in London in April 2009. It said that there was a need for the police to plan and deliver operations that safeguarded the rights of individuals during protests.
Source: Adapting to Protest, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report | HMIC press release | Liberty press release
Date: 2009-Jul
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that the government had not provided enough information to allow it to assess whether there was a justification for allowing an extension beyond 14 days' pre-charge detention in cases of suspected terrorism.
Source: Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights (Fifteenth Report): Annual Renewal of 28 Days 2009, Eighteenth Report (Session 2008-09), HC 726 and HL 119, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jun
The government announced (following an internal review) that it had dropped plans for identity cards to be made compulsory: but it said that the national roll-out of a voluntary scheme was being accelerated.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 30 June 2009, columns 11-13WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Home Office press release | Liberty press release | Conservative Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report | FT report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report by a committee of peers said that the government had paid 'insufficient attention' to a number of points and criticisms in the committee's earlier report on surveillance and data processing, and had underestimated public concern over the issue.
Source: Analysis of the Government's Response to Surveillance: Citizens and the State, Fourteenth Report (Session 2008-09), HL 114, House of Lords Constitution Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Response | Peers original report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jun
A briefing paper said that government proposals to increase the surveillance of the communications activities of all citizens had 'serious flaws'. The proposals could only work if entirely new laws were passed by Parliament, and if the public could be persuaded that the threats from terrorism and crime were so extensive as to justify ever greater levels of intrusion and expenditure.
Source: Briefing on the Interception Modernisation Programme, LSE Policy Engagement Network/London School of Economics (020 7955 6840)
Links: Briefing | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jun
The Law Lords ruled that the government had violated Article 6 of the Human Rights Act (protecting the right to fair trial) by refusing to provide terror suspects who were subject to control orders with adequate information about the 'secret intelligence' used against them.
Source: Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF and Another, UKHL 28 (Session 2008-09), House of Lords Judicial Office (020 7219 3111)
Links: Text of judgement | JUSTICE press release | Liberty press release | MCB press release | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jun
The government responded to a report by a joint committee of MPs and peers on the implications for human rights of counter-terrorism legislation. It rejected calls for a two-year limit on control orders against those suspected of involvement in terrorist activities.
Source: Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights (Fourteenth Report): Annual Renewal of Control Orders Legislation 2009 – The Government Reply to the Fifth Report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Cm 7625, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Guardian report
Date: 2009-May
The government began consultation on proposals (in response to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights) to restrict the practice of retaining DNA samples taken by the police even where the individuals concerned were never convicted of an offence. The plans would mean that the DNA profiles of innocent people would nonetheless remain on the national database for up to 12 years.
Source: Keeping the Right People on the DNA Database, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | Home Office press release | HGC press release | Liberty press release | ACPO press release | IHRC press release | NICCY press release | Conservative Party press release | Guardian report (1) | Telegraph report | FT report
Date: 2009-May
The government responded to a report by a committee of peers on the growth of official surveillance. It said that the government needed to strike a balance between the right of the public to privacy, their right to more effective delivery of public services, and their right to protection from crime and terrorism.
Source: Surveillance: Citizens and the State – The Government Response to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution's Report, Cm 7616, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Peers report
Date: 2009-May
The government began consultation on new measures designed to maintain the capability of public authorities to obtain access to communications data. It said that it had dropped plans for a single database of individuals' web use, e-mail traffic and phone calls: but that it would require media, internet, and telecoms companies to make their records available to the police and intelligence services.
Source: Protecting the Public in a Changing Communications Environment, Cm 7586, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | Home Office press release | ICO press release | Liberty press release | NO2ID press release | Telegraph report | FT report
Date: 2009-Apr
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers expressed a number of human rights concerns about the Policing and Crime Bill. It said that introducing a strict liability offence for buying sexual services from prostitutes who were being controlled for gain by a third person risked inappropriately interfering with the right to respect for a private life. It also said that the Bill should be amended to decriminalize children involved in prostitution.
Source: Legislative Scrutiny: Policing and Crime Bill, Tenth Report (Session 2008-09), HC 395 and HL 68, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Apr
An article examined the influence of the European Convention on Human Rights on the legal culture of litigants and judges in Northern Ireland. There had been a dramatic increase in the number of judicial review cases based on the Convention in the years immediately following implementation of the treaty through the Human Rights Act: but judges had been reluctant to issue declarations of incompatibility pursuant to the Human Rights Act.
Source: David Weiden, 'Examining the influence of the European Convention on Human Rights in Northern Ireland courts', The Social Science Journal, Volume 46 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Mar
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that it had found no systematic human rights abuses in the policing of protest: but it had some concerns that could be addressed by legal and operational changes. Making these changes would further protect the rights of people who wished to protest.
Source: Demonstrating Respect for Rights? A human rights approach to policing protest, Seventh Report (Session 2008-09), HC 320 and HL 47, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Mar
A report examined the loss of human rights in the United Kingdom over the previous 10 years, through (for example) laws allowing 28-day detention without charge, restrictions on protest, and legislation allowing email, telephone, and letter interception.
Source: Umar Azmeh et al., The Abolition of Freedom Act 2009, UCL Student Human Rights Programme for Convention on Modern Liberty (020 7631 2666)
Links: Report | UCL press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Feb
A report by a committee of peers said that electronic surveillance and collection of personal data were 'pervasive' in British society, and threatened to undermine democracy.
Source: Surveillance: Citizens and the State, Second Report (Session 2008-09), HL 18, House of Lords Communications Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | ICO press release | NO2ID press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Feb